The Healing of the Ten Lepers
Codex Aureus Epternacensis
c. 1035-1040
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
The canonized group includes 96 people who were from Vietnam and 21 missionaries from Spain and France; eight were bishops, 50 were priests, and nearly 60 were lay people.
St. Andrew Dung-Lac was a diocesan priest—he was named Dung An Tran when he was born in 1795 in North Vietnam. When he was 12, he moved to Hanoi with his family so his parents could find work. A catechist there offered him food and shelter and helped him receive an education. Dung was baptized, and chose the name Andrew—he became a catechist himself, teaching others the faith, and eventually was chosen to study for the priesthood. Andrew was ordained in 1823 and was known as an effective preacher and a model of holiness for those he served.
When the emperor began persecuting Christians, Andrew was imprisoned several times, but released when his congregation purchased his freedom. Eventually, though, Andrew was again arrested, tortured, and, finally, beheaded.
Dominican and Jesuit missionaries were the first to suffer martyrdom in Vietnam. These religious orders brought the faith to Vietnam in the seventeenth century and planted the seeds of Christianity that have grown ever since. Ever since, Christians have suffered under political regimes that suspected the faith as foreign influence.
The ruling powers forced many Christians to renounce their faith under threat of torture or execution—they were required to trample a crucifix to prove their allegiance to the state. Many hid, but the authorities rewarded those who turned in Christians, giving away large amounts of silver in return for reports of where the faithful were hiding. In return, Christians bribed those authorities to buy their safety. At one point, a third of the budget for a French missionary society was dedicated to buying safety for Catholics in Vietnam.
Christians were martyred in horrific ways in Vietnam, including St. Andrew Dung-Lac—their bodies were mutilated and some were tortured with the use of psychoactive drugs. Many were branded on the face, and whole towns known to hold Christians were wiped out.
An 1862 treaty with the French granted religious freedom to Catholics but did not stop all persecutions throughout the country. Most recently, in the last century, the Communist government tried to purge the nation of religion, and more than 600,000 Christians fled, leaving everything behind.
This above image of the Vietnamese martyrs was used by the Vatican for their canonization—it appears here, along with the image of St. Andrew Dung-Lac to the right, with permission from Catholic.org.
St. Andrew Dung-Lac and the Vietnamese Martyrs, who embraced suffering rather than renounce your faith—pray for us!